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I love that the author was so passionate about this book that she quit her corporate job to track down her ancestry. She did an excellent job crafting an original story about three generations of women in her family based on her research. The characters were very believable with real struggles.

I recently visited the Cane River Creole National Park in Natchez, Louisiana, and was very interested to read this book. This is the story of several generations of Creole women from the same family, both slave and free, and was very well researched. Told in a fictionalized story that captured the beauty of the area and the harshness, and love of the lives lived by these women. I enjoyed all of the "extras" included in the book. These include numerous family trees, photographs and paintings of the characters.

I am so glad I read this book. The author gives a gorgeous retelling of her family history (based mostly in fact, with some edits for narrative flow) through the voices of four generations of women. She provides family trees throughout, which I looked back at many times and really enhanced the narrative. The novel is emotional and heartbreaking but also inspiring.